2019 Caring for Kids Radiothon

Country 105 Caring
for Kids Radiothon sets new record for the Alberta Children’s Hospital Multi-million dollar donations triple community generosity

Supporters of the 16th annual Country
105 Caring
For Kids Radiothon have responded with incredible generosity to
help children and families at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. That generosity
was then tripled when the Crist
Family Foundation and an anonymous donor through the Calgary Foundation each matched
every dollar, revealing a record-breaking total of more than $6.6 million.

Minutes before wrapping up the live broadcast event,
on-air personalities from Country 105 announced that Radiothon supporters had phoned, clicked online and
walked into the hospital with more than $2.2
million in gifts. With matching funds added, this year’s total donations for
the Alberta Children’s Hospital reached a North American milestone. This brings
the overall Radiothon total since 2003 to more than $31.1 million.

“Given how significantly our province has been affected by the economy,
this level of support is even more special,” says Saifa Koonar, President &
CEO of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation. “It demonstrates that no
matter what challenges people in our community face, the Alberta Children’s
Hospital remains close to everyone’s hearts. We are greatly humbled by such
generosity from so many.”

Over the course of three days, the public was
encouraged to make their donations to the hospital go three times further by
taking advantage of the matching opportunity. Both matching donors chose to
keep the focus of the event on the 70 families who shared their personal
stories with Country 105, with Mr. Tom Crist agreeing to reveal his identity only
during the final hour on Friday night. Each family expressed their gratitude
for the exceptional care they received from specialists at the Alberta
Children’s Hospital – and helped to highlight in real terms how donations help
save and change lives at the hospital every day.

“The opportunity to have every donation doubled, and then tripled
was incredibly exciting!” says Phil Kallsen, Program Director, Country 105.
“The energy it created not only propelled the giving spirit of this community, it
raised an astounding amount of much-needed funds for the Alberta Children’s
Hospital – a place very special to all of us at Country 105 and our listeners.”

The official phone bank sponsor of this year’s event – for the ninth
year in a row - was Brookfield Residential.